Exploring And Promoting Creative Archives

Tag Archives: Maidstone College of Art

Faith Cannon, graduate in Fine Art from Canterbury, is going to be our artist in residence in the archives. Here’s her work in her own words:

Faith Cannon -BA Fine Art

Previous use of archives- Maidstone UCA Campus

Previous use of archives- Maidstone UCA Campus

Previous use of archives- Maidstone UCA Campus

Previous use of archives- Maidstone UCA Campus

A little about me- I have just graduated from UCA after studying part time for 6 years at Canterbury and my foundation year was at Maidstone Campus.

My artistic practice is drawn from the theory of experiential learning and the use of recycled materials which hold their own unique footprints. These connections to the past functions and history behind the materials, inspires my practice to further their existence through process and manipulation. I use varied media to create new art work; I incorporate my own past work and ideas to then create something new and contemporary.

Why I want to promote the use of the archives!

On finishing my degree I was reviewing areas that I wanted to develop my artistic practice further. I had used the archives previously in my work and collaborated with fellow artists to form an exhibition at UCA Maidstone as part of our studio work. So I decided to contact Rebekah Taylor to see if I could aid and promote the use of the archives as a resource for students at UCA. Rebekah was very enthusiastic and we came up with initial areas of focus with digitalisation of some of the archives from Canterbury past degree shows. This will allow students visual access to past artworks, presentation, curator practice, artist statements which could aid them in their own studies. We also want to promote the development of new work from these artefacts’ in a contemporary way. To do this I intend to collaborate with other artist. So watch this space!

On the 9th January,

David Haste, artist and previous head at Fine Art, at Canterbury, Kent Institute of Art and Design launched his book ‘Art Schools in Kent’ in Rochester Library. He gave an engaging talk to an interested audience about his intensive research showcasing past images of student and art school life from the many art schools that previously existed, including Maidstone, Canterbury, and Rochester

Books are still available to purchase from David Haste in the Library, by cash or cheque.

This Explore Your Archive posting brings exhibition images of the educational feature of the IPEX (the international printing and allied trade) exhibition held at Olympia in 1955. The 3,500 ft stand was designed by R.A Richardson from the Maidstone College of Art and carried out by staff and students at Canterbury and Maidstone Colleges of Art.

UCA’s alumni magazine Creative Update undertook an interview with Maidstone’s first international student:

‘Creative Update spoke to Despina Meimaroglou, the very first international student to study at one of our founder colleges, the Maidstone College of Art. She talked to us about her experience, and how it helped her become a successful practicing artist.

Despina studied a National Diploma in Design at Maidstone from 1961 to 1965. Originally from Greece but brought up in Egypt, she chose the college after a recommendation from her uncle.

She found it challenging, being both the first international student and the only foreigner studying at the campus at the time. She said:”I struggled tremendously for at least the first three months to comprehend the English language spoken around me. As a result my main nightmare was the incapacity to follow a lecturer and take down notes.”

But to this day her fondest memory comes from the words of another student who said: “Despina you are one of us.”

A number of other people influenced her study in the UK, and career thereafter. She told us: “From day one Brian Wildsmith was the teacher who stood by me, believed in my talent and gave me a lot of encouragement and he continues to be my role model so many years on.”

Her experiences adapting to the differences in the UK, in conjunction with continuous world travel throughout her career, have been a major inspiration for her work.

She said: “It taught me how to comprehend the differences and similarities which bind us with others and therefore enable the collaboration between us. And this is exactly what my art is based upon.”

Despina’s work is currently in the mediums of digital photography and video. Over the years she has experimented with printmaking, typography, monoprints, Polaroid and large Xerox prints.

Her work looks at the mutual relationship between reality and its representation; truth and fiction; social and political facts and their distortion. “My aim is to capture and reconstitute my perception of truth from layers of time and memory as well as from mediation of social and media induced stereotypes,” she said.’

UCA Archives has received a donation from a student, Adrian Pearman, who was in the School of Printing at the Maidstone College of Art in the 1960s. These images will be of particular interest from a graphic design perspective. This material is currently being catalogued under the Maidstone College of Art Archive, and is currently available at UCA Maidstone Campus. It includes examples of typography, including letraset

Below are examples of book illustrations produced

Design and Drawing, letra set book illustrations

Space-man book illustrations

Work produced included a co-operate identity project (below) for a diploma show, Maidstone District. This included bus timetables, memo, letterheads, and brochures

Also included is the award winning handprinted Decimal Currency Project, a prize awarded by the British Federation of Masters Printers.

Another example includes an example of a fictional boutique, His and Hers. At a time where colours were very subtle, the bright colours were very stand out for the time.